If you are looking for a 1:1 replacement of the Start Orb/button in Windows 7, turn away now, but if you are looking for a simple application to click to launch the new Start screen, read on.
A post in our forums by user by Alex Appleton highlights two applications that he has created that fix what are some of his, and likely others, biggest annoyances with Windows 8. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that Windows 8 has removed the Start Orb/button. Alex has created a simple application that launches the new Start screen and by pinning it to your task bar, you can relive to glory days of Windows by having an icon to click to launch the Start screen. Alex states:
While setting up my first RTM install of Windows Server 2012 I thought of a neat trick to get around this. Basically, I compiled a little executable that launches the start menu. Then I pinned the executable to my taskbar and dragged it to the bottom left corner. Voila! Start menu button is back.
Now, for those of you not wanting to install the app, as a friendly reminder, the easy ways to switch to the Start screen are by pressing the Windows key on the keyboard, cntrl+esc, moving your mouse to the lower left hot-corner, or by pulling up the charms menu to launch the interface.
You can find the download on Alex"s Skydrive account with the link below, or head in to the forums to discuss the application in this thread here.
Download: Start button app
Source: Alexappleton.net